1970

After all this activity in the leisure flying field it became obvious that a local aero club was the next move and mainly due to the initiative of Don Mahon a public meeting was called on 24th September 1970 and those present decided to go ahead and form a club. Quite a bit of discussion took place over a suitable name but eventually, to keep the Arrowtown and country people quiet the name Wakatipu Aero Club was adopted. John Atkinson who was now employed by Mt Cook and based at Queenstown was appointed honorary part time C.F.I. to be assisted by Jim Bergman and Ray Cooney who were also flying for Mt Cook at that time.

Fund raising was the next thing on the agenda and it was decided to issue $100.00 non interest bearing ten year debentures to all those that could afford them and $20.00 compulsory donations from those that couldn’t (or wouldn’t). Some 21 of the $100.00 type were issued which gave the club a handy start. Woolsheds were cleaned out and the wool sold and quite a large patch of potatoes grown on ground loaned to us by Murray Hensen. Three quarters of an acre (I think) somewhere near where the power board substation now stands at Frankton. Cessna 172 BVP was purchased with the help of a loan from the late Charley Hume who had recently sold his farm at Glenorchy and arrived mid October 1970. With the rush of good keen types she was one busy aeroplane and it soon became evident that our part time instructors (courtesy of Mt Cook) were not able to keep up with the demand. Margaret Quinn travelled up from down south and helped out one day a week for quite some time and then Jennie Frame took over on the same basis. BVP flew 292 hours during her first six months of operation mainly due to the assistance and time so freely given by the instructors at that time. We had 28 members during this period and the initial charge out rate was $14.00 per hour.